Promoting a culture of sustainability in Northfield, MN

We wanted to formally introduce you all to Ryan Doyle. Ryan will be a senior at St. Olaf College in the fall. He will be an intern with the Center for Sustainable Living this summer as part of St. Olaf College’s “Leaders for Social Change” program. Now before you think he’s going to be busy filing away papers in an office or “just getting his feet wet” in a non-profit organization, we’ve gone about his internship in.. well.. quite a different way.

From now until August 1, Ryan will be taking on projects completely of his choosing related to his passions for sustainability, public policy, ways to “make things easier” for folks to live sustainably, and also spending valuable “unstructured time” in nature! You could call it a “self-designed sustainability camp” of sorts. All of his research and projects will go forward with him on his path of leadership, and he will share it all through his own blog and through our organization.

Apart from his activities on sustainability, he is joining eight other students this summer, living in a St. Olaf honor house in a community. These nine students will be preparing meals together, reflecting on their experiences, and will have the opportunity to engage in retreats and leadership programming throughout the summer.

All of us with the CSL have recognized for some time now that many of us lead busy lives full of “tasks” that have little to do with our passions, or the interaction with nature – much less finding ways to live a more sustainable life. And, in much the same spirit as the former Village School (which the Center for Sustainable Living had a hand in helping with visioning and bylaws for this former charter school), Ryan will be guided to form his own learning and research plan, engaging in projects and activities of his choosing.

His experiences and findings can be an invitation to others on how a person might take a journey into exploring the issues they care about. Stay tuned as we’ll journey with him!

You can check out Ryan’s Blog from time to time to see what he’s up to! We’ve added a link to it on our sidebar as well. Enjoy!